Business and residential customers are now increasingly using Presence Server to locate and find out if people are available to communicate with. Due to the increase in a variety of communication devices that individuals are using, distinct forms of presence that employ different communication technologies need to be considered in trying to locate and communicate with a subscriber. For instance, a subscriber may be using a cellular telephone, a traditional wire line telephone, a VoIP telephone, or a computer equipped with instant messaging applications, during various time periods in a day. For other subscribers to reach this particular subscriber, the presence status of the subscriber comprising the communication methods that can be used to reach the subscriber needs to be known to the other subscribers.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for providing presence status of multiple communication device types in a packet network, e.g., a VoIP network.